Electric fak



May 3, 1938.

, Original Filed Sept. 3,1935

4 vSheets-Sheet 1 3nmtor. if John GJVIRQ arm/Z I y 1933- J. G. MACDONALES Re; 20,714

ELECTRIC FAN Original Filed Sept. 3, 1935 4-Sheets-Sheet 2 ZInmtor.

attorney 1 May 3, 1938. J. G. MACDONALD ELECTRIC FAN 4 Sheets-Sheet. 3

. Original Filed Sept. '3, 1935 attorney y 3, 1938. J. G. MACDONALD Re. 20,714

ELECTRIC FAN Original Filed Sept. 3, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Z attorney- ......4 Mas 19a p Re'. 20,714

UNITED STATES PATENT: go-Price John G. Macdonald, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Original No. 2,037,250, dated April 14, 1936, Serial No. 39,057, September 3, 1935. Application for reissue October 14, 1937, Serial No. 168,941

13 Claims. (Cl. 230-274) This invention relates to ah improvement in is a conventional switch arm ll of a switch not electric fans, of the character utilizing a series shown, for controlling the electric current that of vanes for deflecting the air currents from the drives the fan. Rising from the base at each fan which vanes are oscillated by a mechanism end are the vertical supporting arms l2. To ena coacting with the motor-driven fan.' hance the appearance and add symmetry and My improvement consists of a simplified oscilbalance I prefer to make the casing A of a reclating mechanism to move the deflecting vanes, tangular configuration. This casing is formed of a suitable metal case, having special design fealight she t me al h vin in r l r a d bottom tures, to surround the working mechanism of the walls I3, I, respectively, and side walls" IS. The fan so as to act as a support and also a proteccasing A is open at forward and the rear ends 1 tion all of which features are constructed to em to allow currents of air to pass therethrough.

hanee the appearance of the fan. The handle I6 is secured to the top wall 13. .On Further objects of the invention are to prointermediate portions of the side walls l5 spaced I vide an electric fan of the character referred to hor o tal bs l a e f med t e e the 1 .15 that is strong, compact and durable, thoroughly pearanceof the fan. Across the rear open end reliable for its intended purpose, very light in of the casing A are the crossed braces It. The construction, having very few parts to need reouter ends of the vertical portions of the crossed pair and comparatively inexpensive to manufacbraces are joined with the top and bottom walls ture, and which will not be easily upset and will of the casing respectively. The ends of the horioperate quietly. zontal portion of the crossed braces are respec- With the foregoing and other objects in view tlvely joined to the opposite side walls l5. The

the invention consists of a novel construction, braces thus serve .to effectively reinforce the thin combination and arrangement of parts as will be walls of the casing against vibration or drumhereinafter more specifically described in referming action. The crossed braces merge with ence to the accompanying drawings, wherein .is each other at the center of the rear open end disclosed an embodiment of the invention. of the casing where there is supported an electric In the drawings wherein like reference charmotor l9 and the motor is housed in the casing. acters denote corresponding parts throughout The motor I! drives the fan 20. On the rear the several views: side at the juncture of the crossed braces I8 Figure 1 is a front elevation of. the improved the e is 8- sea eas ng vi flange 22 bolted 30 electric fan embodying the principles of the presas at 23 to .the crossed braces. The armature ent invention. shaft of the electric motor [9, is formed with a Figure 2 is a rear elevation thereof showing rearward extension which projects into the gear partsin vertical section. v housing 21 and is formed with a worm gear 24.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken substan- Within the gear-housing 2| is a transverse hori- 35 tially on the line 3-8 of Figure 4 .and looking zontal shaft 25 journaled at its opposite endsin downwardly. I the walls of the housing. On an intermediate Figure 4 is a detailed vertical section thereof portion of the shaft 25 is a gear 26 which meshes having parts broken away. 7 with the worm gear 24. 0 Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the The drive shaft for oscillating the deflecting deflecting vanes removed from the casing. vanes is indicated at 21 and this shaft is shown Flgure'6 is a fragmentary perspective view of arranged in a vertical position. The lower end the connecting link for oscillating the deflecting of the shaft 21 extends through the gear housing vanes; 2i and has journal bearings on the top and bot- Figure! is an enlarged vertical section through tom wall of the housing. On the portion of drive 45 the pivotal connection between the supporting shaft 2| withinthe housing there is a gear 28 arms and the casing. which meshes with a worm gear 29 on the shaft Figure 8 is an enlarged side elevation of the 25. The upper end of drive shaft 21 terminates eccentric connection between the connecting link below the top wall i3. Near the top of the upper and the drive shaft. vertical portion of the cross brace i8 is a bear- 50 Figure 9 is a perspective view of .the disc on ing bracket 30 that supports the upper end of the the terminal of the drive shaft. drive shaft 21. Above the bearing bracket 3|! Referring to the drawings in detail the numerthere is a disc 3i secured to the terminal of the a] ll indicates an oblong base which may be drive'shaft 21, said disc having a radial slot 32. formed of metal or bakelite. Carried by the base Bearing bars 33 and 35 having longitudinal ribs 55 tervals are secured respectively in parallel relation to the top and bottom walls of the casing in spaced relation to the forward edge and serve also to reinforce the said walls.

A series of deflecting vanes 36 having aligned pivot extensions 31 iournalied in the bearing openings of the bars are each shown provided with a rearward extension 38 terminating in a crank sleeve 39.

A common operating member for the vanes is here shown in the form of a T-shaped member the head 41 of which carries a series of crank pins 48 which extend into the crank sleeves 39 of the vanes so that when the T-shaped member is displaced bodily in a horizontal plane. the vanes will be caused to swing on their individual pivot mountings.

The stem portion, which is here shown integral with the head portion, extends rearwardly to overlie the disc 3| which is radially slotted as at 32 and the stem 40 .is provided with a longi-- tudinal slot 4|.

A crank bolt 42 is slidably adjustable in the disc slot .32, being frictionally held in any selected eccentric adjustment by the tension of a spring 45 arranged between the disc 3! and nut 45. The upper end of the crank bolt is operatively disposed within the slot of the stem 40 of the vane operating member with the crank bolt head 43 overlapping the stem and a spacer 44 is disposed between the stem and disc to minimize friction.

With this construction it will be seen that the operation of the crank 42 in the slot H of the stem 4D effects the bodily displacement of the IT-shaped vane operating member which simply rides on the vanes and on the crank bolt in a floating manner requiring no pivotal mounting on the casing and reducing the number of parts and friction to a minimum and by simply sliding the crank bolt 42 in the disc slot against the frictlonal holding action of the spring the degree of oscillation of the vanes may be readily controlled.

The forward edges of the casing walls are shown as flanged inwardly to overlie the vanes in a protective manner and serve as a reinforcement.

It will be noted that the fan, motor and vanes are all housed compactly within the casing which is supported in a substantially balanced manner directly above the base which affords a distinct advantage over prior constructions in that a neat, compact and rugged device is produced which will not be easily upset. u

The entire casing andenclosing assembly is shown mounted for pivotal adjustment and to provide for such adjustment in a neat and effective manner with the casing spaced closely above the base ill, the casing is'provided with an opening in the bottom through which the vertical supporting arms !2 extend.

Pivot mounting pins 5| extend inwardly from the side walls i5 of the casing through enlarged openings 55 and resilient discs 55 of rubber are clamped against opposite sides of the arms i2 about the openings-55 and pins 5| by means ofv the clamping washers 53 and 64, clamping pressure being effected by threaded engagement of the nut 51 with the threaded end 52' of the pin so that the rubber discs are held under compression and the frictional contact of the elements will permit pivotal'adjustment of the casing and will retainsuch adjustment unaflected by any vibration set up in the operation of the fan, and

eliminating the necessity of providing hand clamping screws. 4

' It will be noted that the rubber discs insulate the casing from the base and provide a very desirable resilient mounting which will absorb vibrations which would otherwise be transmitted to the base resulting in more quiet operation.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention for purposes of il-' lustration, it is to be understood that various structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the essential spirit of the invention. k

What I claim as my invention is:

1 1. In an electric fan the combination with a v motor driven fan and a series of vanes actuated by the fan motor for deflecting the air stream, of a common casing housing all of said elements in a compact co-operative assembly, a base, said casing having its bottom directly overlapping the base and having an opening therethrough, support arms extending upwardly from the base directly through the opening into the interior of the casing, and means pivotally connecting said arms with the casing walls interiorly of the casing.

2. In an electric fan the combination with a motor driven fan and a series of vanes to be actuated by the fan motor for deflecting the air stream, of a common casing housing all of said elements in a compact assembly, said casing having a cross-brace connecting the opposite walls in a reinforcing manner and secured to and forming the sole supportior the fan motor, a

gear reduction unit mounted on the rearward side,

of said motor rearwardly of said cross brace and connected with the motor shaft, and means forming an operative connection between said reduction'unit and said deflecting vanes.

3. The combination with an electric fan having a series of breeze-deflecting vanes pivotally mounted, of a common operating member pivotal- 1*: connected to all of they vanes having an arm extension connected rigidly thereto for movement bodily therewith and projecting rearwardly toward the fan motor, and means forming an operative connection between said arm extension and the fan motor.

4. The combination with an electric fan having a series of breeze-deflecting vanes pivotally mounted, and crank extensions from said vanes, of a common operating bar connecting all or said cranks and having a lateral extension rigid therewith and extending angularly rearward, and means forming a combined sliding and pivotal operative connection between said rigid lateral extension and said fan motor.

' 5. Means as claimed'in claim 3 in which said with said rigidly connected extension of the common operating member.

6. In an electric fan having a series of vanes pivotally mounted, the combination therewith of,

a common operating member or T-shape having the head portion operatively connected to all of said varies, a speed reduction unit operated by the fan motor, and crank means operatively interposed directly between the gear unit and the stem portion of said T-shaped member.

7. In an electric fan the combination with a motor driven fan and a series of vanes actuated by the fan motor for deflecting the air stream, of means forming an operative connection between. said fan motor and said vanes including means adjustable to vary the degree of pivotal displacement of said vanes' 8. Means as claimed in claim 7 in whichsaid last mentioned means comprises a radially slotted motor driven disc having a crank slldably adjustable in the slot and frictionally retained in its adjusted positions' and an operating extension from said vanes pivotally and 'slidably engaging said crank.

9. In an electric fan the combination with a motor driven fan and a series of vanes actuated by the fan motor for deflecting the air stream, of a common casing housing all of said elements in a, compact co-op'erative assembly, and bearingbars of longitudinally ribbed form secured to and reinforcing the top and bottom walls of the casing at the front and having bearing openings in the rib formation and said vanes having trunnions extending thereinto.

10. An electric fan having in combination, a

casing, a motor-driven fan in said casing, air defleeting vanes at the forward end of the casing operable by the fan motor, said casing being of polygonal form presenting thin sheet metal walls, and a transverse motor support formed of thin metal members disposed in angular intersecting relation, said support members having reinforcing ribbed formations pressed thereinto and being connected respectively to opposite side walls and top and bottom walls of the casing in reinforcing relation.

11. An electric fan comprising in combination a motor driven fan, air deilecting vanes operated by said motor, a common casing housing all of said elements, a base, supports on said base, and a pivotal connection between the casing and supports including bodies of resilient rubber compressed between the casing and supports and forming a vibration-absorbing connection.

12. In an electric fan, a base, a casing including side walls and open at each end, a pair of supporting arms rising from the base and pivoted at their free ends to intermediate portions of the side walls, crossed braces carried by the walls of the casing bridging one open end of the casing, a motor driven fan carried by the cross braces and surrounded by the walls of the casing, air deflecting vanes pivoted to oscillate on a vertical axis adjacent the other open end of the casing and forwardly of the fan, a gear housing carried by the cross braces, a vertical shaft Journaled at its lower end in the casing, means coacting with the motor driven fan to rotate the shaft, a connecting rod pivoted at one end to the vanes, and an eccentric connection between the shaft and the other end of the connecting rod to oscillate the deflecting vanes I 13. In an electric fan the combination with a motor-driven fan and a series of vanes actuated by the fan motor for-deflecting the air stream, oi a common casing housing all of said elements in a compact co-operative. assembly, a base, and means pivotally mountingsaid casing and the enclosed units therein on said base directly thereabove free to rock adjustably on a horizontal axis substantially about the centre of gravity of the entire assembly, said last-mentioned means including mounting pivots between the base and casing projecting inwardly from the side walls of the casing substantially in rightangular intersecting horizontal alignment with the motor axis and free of projection beyond the outer side faces of the said side walls.

' JOHN G. MACDONALD. 

